Israeli army kills 2 Palestinians

GAZA, Oct 9 (Reuters) Israeli artillery killed a Palestinian civilian in Gaza and troops shot dead a Palestinian who drew a knife at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank to today, the army and witnesses said.

The Israeli army said it attacked a person around the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun who was collecting a rocket launcher used to fire a rocket into Israel over the weekend.

''The army used artillery fire to carry out the attack,'' an army spokeswoman said.

Palestinian witnesses said the incident took place in an open area on the edge of Beit Hanoun.

A hospital doctor said the dead civilian was a 14-year-old boy.

The boy's father was among the wounded, medical officials said.

In the second incident, the army said soldiers shot dead a Palestinian they said tried to stab them at a crowded checkpoint near the West Bank town of Nablus.

Palestinian witnesses said soldiers shot a 20-year-old Palestinian man prior to conducting a body search. They said he was unarmed.

Israel launched an offensive against militants in Gaza after Palestinian gunmen seized a soldier in a cross-border raid from the strip on June 25.

Around 225 Palestinians, half of them civilians, have been killed in the offensive in the impoverished strip.

Israel has also been carrying out military strikes to try to stop gunmen firing homemade rockets at Israeli towns and villages near the border with Gaza.

REUTERS PDM ND2006